Just a reminder that Andy Garcia's "The Lost City" opens Friday in Miami, Los Angeles, New York and New Jersey, before opening elsewhere in the coming weeks. (For the latest release schedule, go here.)
Moviesonline has an interview with Garcia. Here's an excerpt:
Q. Are you hoping that this film will clear up some common misperceptions about Cuba and its current government?
A. That would be nice because there is such a lack of understanding or knowledge of what really went down in that time period. Most people think that the Cuban revolution was a socialist…a Marxist revolution. It was not. It turned into that, but that was not what was articulated. That’s not what people were fighting for. In fact, that was not what Fidel Castro’s whole manifesto stated which was the restoration of the constitution, of democracy, elections, and all that. It only turned once he took power.
Read the whole interview here.
(H/T to Cuban-American Pundits.)
UPDATED, 8:20 a.m. EDT
The Los Angeles Daily News also has a new interview with Garcia.
Some excerpts:
Q: What did you think of "The Motorcycle Diaries"?
A: That's Che Guevara when he's 18 years old. You don't see the dark side, nor do they allude to it, and at the end of the film, they say he went off to become part of the Cuban revolution. They don't go into any details.
Q: And they don't really give you much of a hint that this kid even has it in him to be leading the firing squads.
A: I don't know what Che Guevara was like when he was 18. But I do know what he was like when he was 32. And you see that in "The Lost City."
Q: Has your film caught flak for its politics?
A: Yes, it has. There have been festivals that wouldn't show it. And that will continue to happen from people who don't want to see the image of Che be tarnished and from people who support the Castro regime. And he still has a lot of supporters out there.
Q: It's hard to imagine why. Totalitarianism, poverty, human rights violations ... the list goes on.
A: Some people think Castro is a savior, that he looks out for kids and the poor. It's a bunch of hogwash. In the 45 years since Castro has been in power, Cuba has been in the top three countries for human rights abuses for 43 of those years. People turn a blind eye to his atrocities.
Q: They see him as David thumbing his nose at Goliath.
A: Yes. He waves the fist of "I'm fighting Yankee imperialism." Never mind that he didn't care about Soviet imperialism in the 1960s and '70s. It's a whole political game. It's hard to fathom that people would go down there to shake his hand, because he's got blood on his hands.
Q: Have you ever thought about going back?
A: Every day I think about going back.
Q: You could. People go to Cuba all the time from Canada or Mexico. It has become this sexy tourist destination because it's taboo.
A: Well, Cuba has always been sexy. (Laughs) It's sexy even in the state of decay it's in. But to go there is illegal. I would never go back under those conditions. Emotionally, I've never wanted to go back while Castro was there. I'll wait until he's dead and buried.
Recent Comments